Buenos Aires and Bariloche, Argentina – Wearing a pair of yellow, noise-cancelling earphones, Diana Lago stares into the flying metal pieces that whizz inside a glass cylinder. The shards are only mock-ups of radioactive sources, being put to the test by Lago and her fellow engineers in Argentina’s quest to identify the most appropriate method to treat the country’s nuclear waste.
In the world, there has been significant progress in treating radioactive waste over the last few decades. With the help of the IAEA, a young generation of Argentinian scientists is adapting existing methods to safely treat this type of waste.
Through its technical cooperation programme, the IAEA is supporting the country with high-end equipment, training courses and fellowships.
Argentina generates 200 m³ of low and medium-level radioactive waste per year, in comparison to 10 million m³ of solid urban waste. Most of it comes from its three nuclear power plants, which provide electricity to 10% of the population. The waste also includes disused radioactive sources from healthcare, industry and research.
“Before disposal, we need to be able to convert our radioactive waste into something that will last for tens, hundreds or even thousands of years without releasing any radioactivity and reduce its volume to the extent possible,” said Lago, a nuclear scientist at the Bariloche Atomic Centre at Argentina’s National Atomic Energy Commission (CNEA).